Adjusting device for looms and method of controlling weft threads



Oct. 2, 1934. 1 LEwlN ET A 1,975,587

ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR LOOMS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING WEFT THREADS FiledJuly 30, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l CONRAD 6575/? ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1934.

l. LEWIN ET AL ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR LOOMS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING WEFTTHREADS Filed July 30, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS V/A/G L EW/A/CON/PAD VV. GE/E/P ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 2, 1934 its STATES mass? rareorrics I ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR LOOMS AND,

METHOD OF CONTROLLING WEFT THREADS Application July 30, 1932, Serial No.626,803

14 Claims. (01. 139-190) tion, Therefore, when the filling of a shuttlebecomes exhausted or should a weft breakage occur and a pick-out of oneor more weft threads is necessitated thereby, it has been the commonpractice to disturb the contact between the cloth, 15 take-up roll andwarp tension in order to try and prevent imperfections in the cloth.This is attempted by the operator, after the loom has been stopped, bymanually adjusting the lay, and consequently the reed, t0 the forwardextremity of '20 its fixed range of movement and then letting the clothbackward in the. direction of the let-ofi to position the fell of thecloth so that it will coincide with said extreme forward movement of thereed. Notwithstanding the expertness of the operator, this operation hasbeen found to result in uncertainty in the adjustment or setting of thecloth and warp due to slippage and change of tension of the warp threadsand cloth with respect to the take-up and let-off mechanisms, and theinexactness of the adjustment of the fell of the cloth relative to theextreme forward position of the reed. For example, whenattempting tomake an adjustment of the cloth or warp, the weaver must very carefullybring the reed to its forward limit in order to see where the fell ofthe cloth should be, and must then, with equal care, let the cloth backto meet the reed. In either operation, any inaccuracy in these minuteadjustments, both of which are extremely difficult to 40 make, mayresult in the last inserted pick being moved out of place and crowdedagainst adjacent picks so that a heavy mark or imperfection in the clothwill be produced, or should the operator fail to let the cloth backquitefar enough, the filling threads will betoo loose and an imperfectionknown as a light mark will be created.

The necessity of making adjustments of the cloth in order to avoidimperfections therein also occurs after a loom has remained idle for anyyarn in the warp, during any prolonged inactivity of the loom and itthereupon. becomes essential that the operator, before again startingthe loom, very carefully move the lay toward its extreme forwardposition so as to bring the reed up to the fell of the cloth todetermine whether such stretch or shrinkage has occurred. When this hasbeen accomplished and it has been found that the warp or cloth hasstretched or shrunk the latter is adjusted relative to the reed, eitherfor ward or backward as the case may be, until the fell coincides withthe extreme forward position of said reed. h

Thus, in all instances of adjustments relative to the normal fell of thecloth which are made to avoid imperfections in the woven material, ithas been, insofar as known, the universal practice to move the cloth toshift the altered fell thereof relative to the reed with the attendantdisadvantages above pointed out. This movement of the cloth brings abouta very disturbed condition of the Warp, whether it be silk, wool,cotton, rayon, or any other fibre, or whether it be any of theabove-mentioned fibres which have been prepared with a greater or lessernumber of turns per inch necessitated by some particular effect whichthe manufacturer is desirous of obtaining in the finished fabric.

To avoid such disadvantages, it is proposed, in accordance with thepresent invention, to maintain undisturbed the position, contact andtension between the cloth, take-up roll and warp and thereby preservethe identical relationship between the warp and cloth on the one handand the take-up and feeding-off devices on the other hand. To the endthat this may be ac complished, use is made of a mechanism by which thereed may be adjusted to various positions, either forwardly orbackwardly relative to the fell of the cloth, to thereby shift theextreme forward and backward range of the reed, this being preferablydone without altering the length or arc of movement thereof. The amountof adjustment of the reed is dependent upon the number of picks lost orremoved, or the extent of the stretch or shrinkage of the warp or cloth,and'by the use of such a mechanism, the throw of the reed with respectto the fell of the cloth isaltered without affecting or changing theposition or tension of the warp.

While various means for adjusting the reed may be employed in carryingout the invention, the present preferred embodiment of such meansconsists in using an eccentric pin which joins the crank connector tothe lay sword so that the latter, which forms a part of the lay and knobinto one of the openings 31.

supports the reed will respond to any alteration of said pin and therebyeffect a corresponding change in the position of said reed. However, itis to be understood that the inventive concept is not to be construed aslimited to the specific mechanism shown herein since the same result canbe obtained through the use of other instrumentalities such as screws,wedges, cams, or other well-known adjusting means, or by an adjustmentof the reed relative to the lay.

The inventive idea involved is therefore .capable of receiving a varietyof mechanical expressions, one of which, for purposes of illustration,is shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is a diagrammatic view of -a loom, il-

lustrating the lay thereof provided with the adjusting device of thepresent invention.

Figure 2 is an edge elevation, partly in section, of a portion of thelay sword carrying the adjusting device.

Figure 3 is .a side elevation, partly in section, of the device shown inFigure 2, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged section taken through the lay sword andillustrating the eccentric which forms .a part of the adjusting device.

The loom illustrated in Figure 1 comprises a warp beam 6 carrying theweights 7. The warp 9 passes over a whip roll 10 and between lease rods'11 and 12. After being led through the harness shafts 1'3 and the reed14, the Warp 9 passes over a breast beam '15, a take-up roll 16 which isrotated by a pick wheel 17, and a press roll '18, and is finally woundon a cloth roll 19. The weft-beating-up device comprises the reed 14,the lay 20 and the lay sword 21 moved by the crank connector 22, thecrank 23 and the crank shaft 24. The crank connector 22 is connectedwith a pin 25 by means of one of the clamps 5 connected with anotherclamp by tierods-8. As shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, the pin 25 comprisestwo eccentrically located end portions 26 rotatably supported in the laysword 21. A lever 2'] is connected with the pin 25, 26 by means of a pin28 and a screw 29. An indicating plate '30 provided with openings 31 isrigidly connected with the lay sword 21 by means of a screw 32 The lever27 is provided with a knob 33 comprising a coil spring 34 which nornallypresses the pin 35 forming a part of the In order to remove the pin 35from an opening 31, the knob 33 is pulled outwardly, thus compressingthe spring 34.

The distance between the openings 31 and the distance between the axisof rotation of the pin 25 and the axis of rotation of its eccentric endportions 26 have a certain relationship to the thickness of a pick. Thedistance between two adjacent openings 31 is such that as soon as thelever 27 is moved from one opening to the next one, and the pin 25, 26is rotated by said lever, the distance between the lay sword 21 and themembers 22, 23 or 24 is increased or diminished by a pick or thethickness of a predeter-mined fraction thereof.

stance, when the filling of the shuttle breaks and a total of fourpicks, for example, are lost with an attendant alteration in the normalfell of the cloth following the last picks or pick-out operation, theposition of the lay sword 21 will have to be shifted to such an extentthat the lay 20, and consequently the reed 14, is moved foursiXtieths ofan inch, provided that the gears are set to pull sixty teeth per inchand each forward action of the lay causes the cloth to move forwardone-sixtieth of an inch. This is accomplished after the loom has beenstopped without touching the cloth and without changing by hand theposition of the lay sword 21, by

removing the pin 35 from its position in an Pen-ing 31, and mowing it toanother opening which is situated at such distance from thefirstinentioned one that the reed 14 carried by the lay 20 is movedfour-sixtieths of an inch forward. The plate 3.0 may be provided with ascale, not shown in the drawings, which indicates the number of picks orthe fraction of a pick car-responding to the distance between twoopenings 31.

Since the crank connector 22 remains stationary during the adjustment, arotation of the lever 27 to the left from the position shown in Figure 3will cause the axis of thepin 25 to move with respect to the axis of thepin end portions 26, thus pushing forward the lay sword 21 and;

cloth were pulled four-sixtieths .of an inch backwards, and the extremeforward movement of the reed, upon again starting the loom, will beadvanced to the new fell resulting from the lost picks or pick-out.

will, for all practical purposesremain the same. When making adjustmentsto compensate for stretching of the warp or cloth, as previouslyreferred to, the change in the position of the reed j may be eitherforward .or backward, depending upon the nature of the fabric beingwoven and the direction in which the stretch or shrinkage occurs, and inthe case of a backward adjustment the operation of the lever 27, as.above described, is reversed.

What is claimed is:-

1. An adjusting device for looms, comprising a lay sword, a lay carriedby said lay sword, a rotatable pin comprising .at least two portionswhich are eccentric with respect to each other, one of 'said portionsbeing carried by said lay sword; a crank connector, and means forconnecting said crank connector with the other one of said portions.

2. An adjusting device for looms, comprising a lay sword, a laycarriedby said lay sword, a pin comprising at least two portions whichare eccentric with respect to each other, one of said portions beingcarried by said lay sword, a crank connector, means for connecting saidcrank connector with the other one of said portions, and means forrotating said pin.

3. An adjusting device for looms, comprising a lay sword, a lay carriedby said, lay sword, a pin comprising at least two portions which areeccentric with respect to each other, one of said portions being carriedby said lay sword; a crank connector, means for connecting said crankconnector with the other one of said portion, a hand lever connectedwith said pin, and an indicating device cooperating with said hand leverand carried by said lay sword.

4. An adjusting device for looms, comprising a lay sword, a lay carriedby said lay sword, a pin However, the magnitude or extent of the range.of movement of the reed comprising a middle portion and two endportions which are eccentric with respect to said middle portion, saidend portions being rotatably mounted in said lay sword; a crankconnector, means for connecting said crank connector with the middleportion of said pin, an indicating plate provided with openings andcarried by said lay sword, a lever connected with said pin,i and amember carried by said lever and capable of being inserted into each oneof said openings.

5. Ina device for making a joining in cloth being woven, a weftbeating-up device movable through a range the forward limit of which isthe normal fell of the cloth, a driving means for said device and aneccentric connection between said driving means and device adjustable toalter said forward limit to more than two positions, any one of whichwill coincide with a variation in the position of said fell.

6. In a device for making a joining in cloth being woven, a weftbeating-up device movable through a range the forward limit of which isthe normal fell of the cloth, driving means for said device and aneccentric connection between said driving means and device adjustable toalter said forward limit to more than two positions,

,any one of which will coincide with a variation in the position of saidfell, and means to maintain said connection in its adjusted positionsduring operation of said device.

'7. In a device for making a joining in cloth being woven, a weftbeating-up device movable through a range the forward limit of which isthe normal fell of the cloth, a driving means connected to said deviceand an adjusting member having a rotative movement about the point ofconnection between said driving means and device and operable, throughsaid connection, to alter said forward limit to any one of a pluralityof new positions coinciding with a variation in the position of saidfell.

8. In combination with a loom of the type provided with'a warp beam atone side thereof with a warp adapted to be unrolled therefrom, a

- woven cloth or fabric take-up roll at the other side to receive afabric after it has been woven from said warp, a plurality of heddlesreceiving said warp, means for actuating said heddles upwardly anddownwardly to form sheds, a lay provided with shuttle boxes at each sidethereof,

shuttles to be received in said boxes and to traverse the shed to lay afilling or weft thread in position therewithin substantially to the rearof the woven fabric, said lay also including a weft beating-up devicefor moving said filler thread after it has been placed in a shed by theshuttle to proper position in the fabric already woven at the fellthereof, said lay being provided with a driving connection to cause itto reciprocate forwardly and rearwardly to actuate said weft-beating-updevice; means for controlling the beating-up action of said device sothat it will properly beat up the weft threads with an altered positionof the fell, which alteration has been caused by lost picks, pickouts,stretching and shrinkage of the warp, said means including an adjustingelement for changing the range of movement of said device whereby itsextreme forward position will be at the altered fell of the wovenfabric, manual means for controlling the adjustment of said elementpositioned upon the lay in a position readily accessible to the operatorof the loom and indicating means enabling exact visual control of theadjustment of said element.

9. In combination with a loom ofthe type having a warp beam from which awarp is unrolled .during theweaving of the fabric, a cloth take-up rollupon which cloth or fabric is rolled'after havingbeen woven from saidwarp, and means to place filling orweft threads insaid warp to form saidfabric, said means includinga weft beating-up device which serves toplace each weft or filling thread in proper position in the woven fabricat the fell thereof, said loom being provided withmeans to unroll saidwarp and roll said woven fabric a predetermined distance for theplacement of each filling thread so that such filling or weft threadswill be uniformly spaced in the wovenfabric; .means to control thebeating-up action of said device after an alteration in the position ofthe fell of .the cloth .due to lost picks, pickouts, stretching andshrinkage of the warp, said-means includingan ad justing element foraltering or the beating-up position of said device to the altered fellposition, manually actuated means positioned so that they. may beconveniently operated by the loom operator upon stoppage of the. loom tocause said element to change-said foremost limit by a determined numberof picks to the changed position of the fell due to said lost picks,pickouts, stretching and shrinkage, and indicator means to enable saidoperator to determine the exact adjustment made.

10. In combination with a loom of the type provided with a warp beam atone side carrying a warp being rolled therefrom, a fabric take-up rollat the other side receiving woven fabric rolled up thereupon, anintermediate arrangement for weaving weft or filler threads in saidwarp, provided with a device to place or beat-up said filler threads inposition at the fell of the woven fabric, and means actuating said warpand said woven fabric so that upon placement of each filler or weftthread in position, they will be moved forward a distance correspondingto the spacing of one pick from the warp beam to the woven fabrictake-up roll; means for controlling the beating-up action of said deviceso that it will properly beat up the weft threads into proper positionat the fell of the fabric and with uniform spacing upon alteration ofthe position of the fell, said means including a rotatable adjustingelement for changing the foremost position or limit of the range ofmovement of said device without changing the extent of the range,whereby its extreme forward position will be at the altered fell of thewoven fabric, a lever means to control said adjustment, a handle formanual actuation at one end of the said lever means to move said levermeans, an indicator and a scale associated with the last-mentioned endof said lever means, and means for fixing said lever means in anydesired adjusted position enabling exact adjustment of said extremeforward position by a determined number of picks.

11. In a device for making a joining in cloth being woven afterpick-outs, a weft beating-up device movable through a range the forwardlimit of which is the normal fell of the cloth, means for moving saiddevice, an adjustable connection between said moving means and device,and measuring means to adjust the forward limit by the spacing of anexact number of picks corresponding to said pick-outs, whereby theforward limit of the device will coincide with the altered fellposition.

12. In combination with a loom of the type provided with a weftbeating-up device for movi-ng filler or Weft threads to proper positionin the fabric already woven at the fell thereof,- and with means toactuate said weft-beating-up device; means for controlling thebeating-up; action of said" device so--' that it will properly beat uptheiweft threads with an altered position'of the fell, which alterationhas been caused by lost picks, pickouts, stretching and shrinkage of thewarp, said means including an adjusting connection for changing therange of imovement of said device whereby its extreme forward position.will be at'the altered fell of the'woven fabric, 'andmeasuring meansfor controlling the adjustment of said element positioned-upon the. layin aposition readily accessible to the operator of the loom. 1

. 13. In combination with a loom of the type having a weft beating-updevice toplace each Weft or filling thread in proper position in thewoven fabric at the fell thereof, means to control the beating-up actionof said device after an alteration in the position of the fell of thecloth due to lost picks, pickouts, stretching and shrinkage of the Warp,said means including an adjusting element for altering the foremostlimit orthe beatihgup position of said device to the altered fellposition, measuring means to change said foremost limitby a determinednumber'of picks to the changed position of the' fell due to said lostpicks, pickouts, stretching andshrinkage, and indicator means to enablesaid operator to determine the exact adjustment made.

'14.- In co-mbination'with. a loom of the type provided with a device toplace or beat-'up said filler threads in position'at thefell'of thewoven fabric; means for controlling the beating-up action of said deviceso that it will properly beat up the Weft threads into proper positionatthe fell of the fabric and with uniform spacing-upon alteration of theposition of the fell, said means including anadjusting element forchanging the foremost position or limit of the-range of movement of'saiddevice without changing the extent of the range, whereby its extremeforward position will beat the altered fell of the woven fabric, and anindicator'and a scale associated with said adjusting element enablingexact adjustment of said extreme forward position by a determined numberof picks. 1

IRVING'LEWIN.

CONRAD WALTER GEIER.

